Path Hunters- Prologue
by pikachu
Summary: After the defeat of Chaos, more trouble arises for the Senshi in the form of a kawaii boy...


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Path Hunters-

Prologue

Usagi awoke with her head spinning and her gut moaning. The odango-haired blonde figured she probably would be late for school if she didn't get up now- but the sixteen-year old simply rolled over and snuggled down under her warm sheets. Ikuko-mama yelled out her name, so Usagi-chan got up, changed out of her pajamas and put on her Juuban High uniform. She brushed her hair- her odangoes, which usually stayed in their meatball-shape all day, weren't behaving. The girl grabbed two pink ponytail holders from her dresser and used them to keep the damn yellow meatballs in place. She'd had too much to drink at that huge party last night- even if she shouldn't have been drinking.

Ikuko-mama called out her name again- so Usagi raced downstairs, tying up her sneaker laces and grabbing a piece of toast to eat on the way to school. She was always late, so even if it looked she might beat the tardy bell today- she raced and near tripped over a stick on the sidewalk. The sixteen-year old slowed down to keep her balance and tried to remember why she had such a bad headache that morning.

Two or so days before, the rain of terror from evil invading Tokyo and Earth had ended when Chaos was ridden from Galaxia's body- then watching the stars, the Senshi had made wishes. Usagi recalled that Haruka-kun and Michiru-kun- Super Sailor Uranus and Neptune- had not wished for anything. Usagi laughed almost out loud, knowing she had wished for eternal peace when it was already there on their planet. She and her boyfriend and future husband- king of Crystal Tokyo- Chiba Mamoru had talked about their love then kissed under the moonlight. Next day, Mamo-chan had appeared with an acceptance letter from Yale- a university in the United States. It was like a déjà vu- Mamoru had gone off to Harvard before all the trouble with Galaxia and her gang began. Usako- like Mamoru had nicknamed her- had nearly cried and Mamoru asked her what was wrong. _Aw nothing, Mamo-chan. Just so happy for you, getting into Yale._

Usagi thought about her casual answer- of course, she'd been worried. What if it was a déjà vu?- of the bad things that happened before peace. Then nobody is here to hurt us, Usagi thought happily, but what if there is bad people in America? From another universe or something?

"_Hey Usagi-chan, watch out before you die_!"

The girl spun around. Behind her- in Haruka's gold convertible- were Michiru and Haruka, a smiling Hotaru-chan in the backseat holding her pink and blue bunny knapsack. Usagi-chan resented Haruka-kun's smart aleck comment but was happy to see them with a _car. _Without asking, she climbed in the backseat next to young Hotaru. They were going in Juuban High's direction anywise- so Usagi asked them why there were going in that direction. Michiru- at the driver's seat- grinned and replied they were new students at Juuban High, and taking Hotaru-chan to her elementary school too. Hotaru said she had tried to picture her Haruka-papa in a female uniform but couldn't do it- and Michiru told her that she couldn't either- turned out nobody in the convertible could. Finally- Hotaru had to leave and Michiru tried to park in the lot, since they could walk from there. She jokingly said after three tries that she'd just passed her recent driving test. And parking was her weakness- but since nobody'd notice anyways, the sea green-haired girl left their car sideways leaning against a tree.

Usagi-chan's clock had been wrong, the second bell had just rung when she found her friends Ami and Mina P- like she wanted to be called in recent times- huddled together by Usagi's locker. She heard mumbles of this and Usagi that so she stepped in between them and started opening her locker. Ami and Mina- the Senshi Super Sailor Mercury and Venus- twirled around to face her, slightly blushing and grinning. Mina P was holding a torn envelope in her hands, but no letter or anything. Ami-chan, the most intelligent of the Senshi with a rumoured IQ of three hundred, told her it was a letter from some kid she'd never heard of. Mina told her she'd wanted to see the letter, just for a second.

Their odango-haired friend yawned and took the envelope. On the front was an address- _Kino Rubeus_

Minato-Ta-chun. He was obviously new to the region west of the Senshi's- the three hadn't heard of him. Ami sighed and told Usagi to hurry up and look at the letter- for Ami feared she'd be late for homeroom. Usagi took out the contents of the envelope, expecting a letter. No- just a photo of blurry various-coloured swirls. She flipped it over; finding a single sentence- _Eternity is war, Neo-Princess Serenity._ What could this mean?- Ami questioned- Neo-Princess Serenity is Chibi-Usagi. Well- Mina started- he said something about war- maybe he had a feud with Serenity in the future. The third bell- signalling that students who did not want to be considered tardy had to get to their classes right then. Ami raced off in the direction of her homeroom class but Mina and Usagi stayed to ponder the photo and note. Mina shrugged- telling Usagi to meet her at the Crown after school and ran off after Ami. Usagi tucked the photo into the cover of one of her books and ran after the two girls.

Usagi slipped into her seat two seats behind Mina and directly behind Ami-chan. Ami had wanted to sit up front and centre but their teacher put Mina in the first seat of the centre row, Ami-chan behind her and Usagi in the second from last seat. He had commented that a blonde ditz like Mina needed to learn something. The national anthem played and like always- sensei checked to see if their homework was done. Even if Ami and Usagi couldn't see Mina's face you could tell from the sweatdrop on the back of her head that she hadn't finished something. Usagi thought she heard Ami mutter the words _chapter ten_- meaning the tenth chapter of _Anastasia_ that their Language Arts teacher had assigned last night. That stupid book was so boring- Usagi had fallen asleep with only two pages left to read- but Ami probably had finished chapter ten _and_ eleven, and thought about starting twelve. Sensei was now asking Mina if her chapter had been read- the ditz chuckling stupidly and pulling out her copy and mumbling her excuse quickly. Ami-chan humbly said that it had been very interesting but chapter eleven was funnier. Usagi stifled a laugh and explained she'd _almost_ read it, but she'd fallen asleep. Sensei shook his head and went to the next student- Umino, who was like a less social male version of Ami-chan.

A young man just walked in then- interrupting a boy's excuse for his lost book. This young man had brown hair with blue highlights that spiked up over his head. He had striking green eyes and was very pale- and he was already wearing a Juuban High male uniform. Sensei stopped the other boy's excuses and turned to the new kid. He mumbled his name and other things then turned around to tell the other students about him

"Well- I'm from the Minato-Ta-chun region- I'm a first year student and my name is Kino-" 

Usagi woke up from her usual subconscious state and sat up straight- mind racing- the photo, address and note. She sighed- and the young man hadn't finished yet. He had starting coughing and finished- clearing his throat and starting again.

"My name is Kino Rubeus- and I'm sixteen years old." Rubeus finished and crossed his arms, looking at the students.

He smiled in Ami's direction- Usagi knew she was probably blushing. Poor Ami-chan did hate love letters, she had freaked out when she received her first. He then looked over at Usagi, who was now flipping through the pages of _Anastasia_ to finish chapter ten. She looked up once, expecting Rubeus to be checking out her friend Naru- who sat at the front seat of the last row. Wrong- he was still staring at the odango-haired girl in the centre row. Sensei ordered him to take the last seat in the centre row behind Umino and the kid snapped out of his almost trance. He took his seat and Usagi felt eyes staring at her back for the rest of homeroom.

__

Ring! There- the bell for first period. Usagi had her next class- Japanese Language- with another Senshi friend, Mako- who could transform into Super Sailor Jupiter as well as what from Michiru told her- her sea green-haired friend who became Super Sailor Neptune. Right- Mako in her usual far left row seat in the middle and Michiru right next to Usagi on the left in the front seat of the centre row. Across from Usagi on the left was Naru who slipped her friend a note- _That Rubeus kid is kawaii, huh_? Haruna-sensei started to rattle on about kanji or something and Usagi tried not to yawn, knowing that Haruna-sensei knew her ways.

Rubeus-kunhad some kind of telepathic hold on Usagi. She couldn't get him or his note off her mind- and he was in half her classes, usually across from her or behind her- and his locker was next to hers' as well. By lunch, Usagi was sick and tired of him and happily took a seat with her lunch bag with the other Senshi- Ami, Mako, Mina P, Rei- who could transform into Super Sailor Mars. It was a kind of crowded table before Haruka and Michiru plopped down next to Usagi and friends. Ami bit off a piece of her tuna sandwich- her favourite food- and waved. Haruka-kun had not been seen by Usagi in any of her classes yet- and she _was_ wearing the male uniform. Haruka tried to explain that they'd been out of female uniforms in her size while Michiru tried to explain the real story with Haruka-kun gently stuffing her mouth full of rice. They finished up their lunches and when Michiru got out of her seat, Usagi and Haruka- the only two left- saw Rubeus staring at them. When he saw they were staring too- he quickly left his seat and went off in his locker direction. Haruka sniffed and laughed- saying that Usagi had a secret admirer. Usagi took one long look at him- he was kind of kawaii.

The Inner Senshi- and the cats Luna, Artemis and Diana- threw a going-away party for Mamoru that afternoon. Rei and Ami had chipped in together and bought him a brand new laptop- and Rei giving him a pack of Tarot cards. Mako gave him one of her famous blueberry pies- Mina P gave him a CD-ROM and the cats gave him a pair of shoes. Usagi told him to close his eyes and put out his hands. He did and Usagi dropped Diana into his hands- Mamoru yelling when he looked. Usagi and the other Senshi broke out in laughter and Diana and Mamoru scowled. Usagi handed him his real present- a black little puppy. Mamoru loved it- naming it Elios- making everybody think of Chibi-Usagi.

She had gone to the future- come back after the defeat of Chaos but disappeared within two hours. Too much was happening since peace was brought- it was like a curse. Would the Senshi always have to fight evil to not totally burn out? 

Mamoru- holding Elios and his other presents stuffed in a duffel bag- he left to pack for the flight later that night. Usagi went home, still wondering about all the happenings of the day.

Usagi-chan went to see Mamoru off that night with Diana and Luna in tow. Luna was her guardian kitty who gave her the first transformation brooch she got- like Artemis was Mina's guardian cat and Diana was Chibi-Usagi's. Just before he had to board his flight- he promised nothing would happen to him and kissed Usako goodbye. Then he turned and left.

Usagi started on her homework after going home. She finished it- by reading chapter eleven- at around ten thirty. Even if it was way earlier then Usagi went to bed- she was sleepy and changed into her pajamas, wrapping the fresh-from-dryer-warm sheets over her head.

She dreamt a nightmare that night- somehow when she woke up, she knew Rubeus was not that good. It started out odd- Usagi fighting Chaos, no transformation or nothing. And dream Chaos was just a strange flash of lights and a loud voice echoing from the walls of the dark room. Dream Usagi didn't even try to transform, just tried to fight off Chaos. One strange pinkish beam hit her chest and extracted her star seed. It glowed in great awe- floating between Chaos and Usagi. Sometimes it floated near Chaos, but was always stopped. Usagi demanded what was going on, and a familiar voice- that of Rubeus- told her she could not transform. Chaos blasted a large black beam at Usagi- but a person pulled her out of its path. Rubeus grinned- a strange sign appearing on his forehead. Usagi didn't know what it was but tried to pull away- then the whole room was blown into pieces….. 

Usagi woke up then. She looked at her digital clock- it was only midnight. Usagi remembered some old song her grandmother or mother had probably sung to her when she was a baby to get her to sleep. Usagi started to hum it- then began singing softly.

Dancing pairs….

Painted wings….

Things I almost remember….

And a song,

Someone sings….

Once upon a December….

Hm hmm hmm….

__

Things I almost remember. That line stuck out in Usagi's mind for the next hour- while she tried to get back to sleep. Maybe Mama or Nan didn't sing it to me- then how would I know it?- she thought sleepily. Perhaps she'd look it up in the morning- or right now. Usagi had this stupid book of songs from her mother and kept in shoved behind everything else on her bookshelf. She found it- turned on her lamp and opened to the index at the back. She found the title _Once upon a December_- and turned to its page. The song was from that stupid _Anastasia_ novel- that book was haunting her, and it was only a book she had to read for school! Sometimes I feel like Anya- Usagi thought as she climbed into bed- a little girl who grew up in an orphanage and didn't even know my real name and my only clue to my past was a pendant…_*achoo*_! Usagi sighed and shut her eyes- things would be better in the morning.


End file.
